INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON GLOBAL VALUE CHAINS IN PAKISTAN

'Prof Christoph Scherrer from International Center for Development and Decent Work (ICDD) said ICDD was a global multidisciplinary network of eight partner universities, with its head office at the University of Kassel (Germany). It contributes to the global fight against hunger and poverty through research and education to promote economic growth, employment and decent work.'
Read full article: https://academiamag.com/punjab-minister-hussain-jahanian-gerdezi/

Panel Discussion: The Ukraine conflict. A European challenge

Date: Monday, June 15, 2015, 6 pm
Location: University of Kassel, Diagonale 9, room 0422

Read more: http://www.uni-kassel.de/einrichtungen/icdd/news.html

The English languare master's programme "Global Political Economy" (GPE) at the University of Kassel has received an award for its internationalisation. The European Consortium for Accreditation has conferred the Certificate for Quality in Internationalisation on the programme.

The GPE course of study focuses on a critical consideration of the economic, social, political and cultural aspects of globalisation and governance. It combines contet from the social and economic sciences. Students on the GPE programme benefit in particular from exchange with the international partner universities of the global network of the International Center for Development and Decent Work (ICDD). This teaching and research network with headquarters at the University of Kassel has been active since 2009 to improve the understanding of the conditions that allow for productive employment and decent work in development situations.

The University has offered the "Global Political Economy" course of study since the winter semester 2003/2004. Currently it has 76 enrolled students from locations around the world representing countries from Argentina to Uzbekistan.  The Certificate for Quality in Internationalisation makes special mention of the international composition of the faculty and of the student body as well as the distinctive experiences, offerings and the substantial support the students receive from the University. The learning environment of the Programme was described as being international in an exemplary fashion. In its report the accrediting consortium summed up that "the programme has successfully realised internationalisation activities that make a clear contribution to the quality of teaching and learning."  The director of the programme Prof. Dr. Christoph Scherrer characterised this success as "an important seal of quality for the programme. Persons who enrol for this course of study know that they will benefit both form a scholarly and academic standpoints as well as a personal one. " This certification of the GPE master's programme follows another significant recent achievement of the ICDD, which has just received five million EUR in funding from the DAAD for a further five years.

 http://www.uni-kassel.de/einrichtungen/icdd/news.html

Public lecture on "Decent Work along the Agricultural Value Chain"

by Prof. Dr. Christoph Scherrer (University of Kassel) and Prof. Dr. Praveen Jha, (Jawaharlal Nehru University)

When: 27 May, 6 pm
Where: ICDD, Seminar room, Kleine Rosenstraße 1-3, 34117 Kassel

Small-holders and plantation workers receive only a tiny part of the value added in a value chain; e.g. cocoa farmers in Ghana capture only about 4% of the final value of a chocolate bar. They also lack social protection, are exposed to toxic chemicals and face powerful buyers. Economic upgrading is not enough; it has to be accompanied by social upgrading.
What are the obstacles, what are promising strategies to overcome the decent work deficit along agricultural value chains?

http://www.uni-kassel.de/uni/studium/campus-leben/veranstaltungen-termine/termin.html?tx_cal_controller%5Bview%5D=event&tx_cal_controller%5Btype%5D=tx_cal_phpicalendar&tx_cal_controller%5Buid%5D=5872&tx_cal_controller%5Blastview%5D=view-month%7Cpage_id-39468&tx_cal_controller%5Byear%5D=2015&tx_cal_controller%5Bmonth%5D=05&tx_cal_controller%5Bday%5D=27&cHash=49bcb948ca25ad2c87fdc09c279c69a5

"The future of world trade"

"Christoph Scherrer fundamentally criticizes the world trade order. From the perspective of developing countries, a total opening has never proven to be the best way: China, which has only opened selectively is the best example. For the “weak”, he considers a democratization of the political process as essential. "

Read the whole article in German here: https://ftdwirtschaftswunder.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/zeitgesprc3a4ch.pdf

Die Zukunft des Welthandels

Holger Görg, Martin Klein, Michael Pflüger, Oliver Krebs, Christoph Scherrer

95. Jahrgang, 2015, Heft 5, S. 303-318

DOI: 10.1007/s10273-015-1825-8

Global Labour University launches free Massive Open Online Course on Workers’ Rights in a Global Economy

We are happy to announce the launch of a free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Workers’ Rights in a Global Economy.

Starting on 1 June 2015, the six weeks online course will discuss what Global Workers’ Rights are and which instruments and strategies can be used to implement them. Based on a careful mix of video lectures, readings, online resources and interviews with activists and labour scholars from around the world, participants will gain both knowledge and practical skills for furthering workers’ rights worldwide. You can watch a short trailer here to get an overview of the course:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u8dpMVfFh0

The course has been jointly developed by an international team from the partner universities of the Global Labour University, the Bureau for Workers’ Activities of the International Labour Organisation and national and global trade unions. It brings together labour expertise from around the world.

Participation in the online course is free in the Audit Track: it gives you full access to all course material, to the course community and entitles you to a Statement of Participation after successfully completing the course. Those seeking a formal recognition as a certified training can choose the Certificate Track: for 49 Euros it allows you to earn a verified certificate and a certificate supplement after passing an online-proctored exam on the course content. Among those completing the certificate track, we will cast a lot to select three students who will be invited to participate in the 10th Global Labour University Conference “Sharing the Gains – Containing Corporate Power”, 30 September to 2 October 2015, Washington, D.C. You will find more information on the conference on: www.global-labour-university.org/fileadmin/download/CfP_GLU_Conference_2015.pdf

Please go to https://iversity.org/en/courses/workers-rights-in-a-global-economy for more information and enrolment.

TTIP: Explosive mixture for transatlantic relations

"Politicians like to tie the free trade agreement TTIP to" big politics" and to the strengthening of the transatlantic axis against China. But that could go wrong: The TTIP negotiating agenda dictated by large companies brings conflicts in the Western camp, says Christoph Scherrer, Director of the International Center for Development and Decent Work."

http://www.euractiv.de/sections/eu-aussenpolitik/ttip-explosive-mischung-fuer-die-transatlantischen-beziehungen-312525

Worldwide research for Decent Work: The ICDD Network gets funded for another five years

http://www.uni-kassel.de/uni/nc/universitaet/nachrichten/article/weltweit-forschen-fuer-menschenwuerdige-arbeit-netzwerk-icdd-um-fuenf-jahre-verlaengert.html